


"so you just gonna bring me a birthday gift on my birthday to my birthday party on my birthday with a birthday gift"

by wandersblunders



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, kind dad gabe comforts loving son jesse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 16:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8497588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wandersblunders/pseuds/wandersblunders
Summary: Jesse, although being a member of Blackwatch for such a short time, had done so much for the organization. Gabe decided to organize nothing special on a non-specific day as thanks.





	

It had been a while since Jesse had joined Blackwatch. He excelled in his training, becoming quite the deadeye, and Reyes couldn’t help but think of how quickly he’d grown from some hoodlum thieving and trafficking illegal hardware through the U.S. to such a valuable member of Blackwatch.

His papers stated his birthday was, in fact, on that very day, and Gabe just hoped that it wasn’t fabricated somehow. Knowing how the Deadlock Gang operated, though, he wouldn’t be surprised.

Gabe requested Jesse return to HQ under the pretense that they would review his performance over the past few months. However, he had something else in mind.

He sat, watching the hangar Jesse would arrive at in only a few minutes. Simply waiting, he wondered what to do once Jesse would arrive. He already had every excuse he needed in mind, he wanted this to remain a big surprise.

After some time, a ship landed inside. The door dropped, and out walked a boy who looked way too western for any year past 2000.

“You called?” Jesse smiled, that classic undertone of smugness in his voice that Gabe had gotten used to after working with him for so long.

Gabe gave him a frown in return.

“Uhh, you called, sir?”

“That’s much better” Gabe sat up, and gestured for Jesse to follow him.

“You ready for your performance review?” Gabe questioned Jesse, mostly to watch him squirm, partially to add relief to the surprise he would find.

“Oh, absolutely!” Jesse was obviously nervous about it, as much as he tried to hide it. Gabe had learned how to read him perfectly.

They walked through many halls. Every hallway they passed, Gabe could smell the anxiety emanating from Jesse just a little more. That is, to say, Jesse started sweating profusely.

“Calm down, Jesse, this will only be a minute” Gabe said casually, worrying that he was being a little too harsh on Jesse with this pressuring thing.

Gabe opened the door, revealing a darkened room lit dimly from something in the corner, and motioned for Jesse to take the lead in. Jesse walked through.

“Surprise!”

A group of people jumped out to greet Jesse. Jack, Ana, even Fareeha, Ana’s daughter, who jumped to hug Jesse. Jesse, being as soft as he was for the kid, returned the hug.

“What is this?” Jesse chuckled, a little surprised, yet confused by the whole scenario.

“Happy Birthday, Jesse!” Gabe laughed from behind, placing his hand on Jesse’s shoulder.

Jack placed the cake on the table, and began singing

“Happy Birthday to you,”

The crowd began to join in, singing along

“Happy Birthday to you, happy Birthday dear Jesse!”

Jesse felt a grin grow across his face.

“Happy Birthday to you!”

The room erupted in laughter and excited shouting as Jack placed the cake on the table in front of Jesse. Jesse’s grin couldn’t possibly be any bigger at this point.

The room fell silent, as he simply stared at the cake.

A moment passed before Gabe leaned in towards Jesse, whispering “Are you going to blow out the candles?”

“Oh, right, of course!” Jesse chuckled nervously “Just got… lost in the moment.”

The candles were all extinguished in one blow. The crowd cheered, and Jesse mentally wiped the sweat from his brow, avoiding such an awkward confrontation.

“Hey, Jesse” Gabe called, bringing a box into the room “We here, uhh, got you a little something…”

Gabe placed the box in front of Jesse, and Jesse sat still for a moment.

“Well, open it!”

Jesse, curious, lifted the lid of the box to reveal a revolver. It looked fancily decorative, but it also looked like it could pummel a tank into dust should it need to do that. Classy, but deadly. Jesse liked it.

He lifted the gun in his hand, checking it’s chamber, inspecting it. He stood up, slowly and quietly, and turned towards Gabe and the other Overwatch commanders, who watched with anticipation.

“Oh, gee, I love you guys” he chuckled, almost tearing up. Jesse extended his arms and embraced the group. The crowd cheered once more, bottles of soda popping (keeping it friendly around the kids), and music playing.

Today was a good day for Jesse.

\--

Jesse sat on the ledge of the building’s rooftop, playing with his Peacekeeper, as he’d lovingly named it. He felt a vague sense of pleasure in just fiddling around with it, sometimes he’d simply pull the hammer back, occasionally he’d just pop out the cylinder. The gun was unloaded of course, it would’ve been tragic had the gun been loaded and been discharged before he’d even gotten his hands on it.

“Hey, kid” Gabe greeted Jesse as he came to sit by his side.

“Hey, sir, thank you again. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Ahh, it was nothin’. You’ve done good things for Overwatch, we thought you deserved something” Gabe gave Jesse a warm smile, something Jesse was still getting used to after Gabe had spent the past few months giving him rigorous training, shouting at him relentlessly.

“Jesse, you’ve… you haven’t had an actual birthday for a while, haven’t you?”

Jesse looked up to Gabe, confused. “What makes you say-”

“Jesse, you could barely tell it was a surprise party until you saw the cake. You only got the part about blowing the candles after I told you to, and dare I say you didn’t know the present was for you.”

Jesse looked back to his Peacekeeper.

“Have… you even ever had a birthday party, ever?”

“Well… no.” Jesse admitted to it bluntly, still wearing a smile, however weakened “Between growing up with no friends, joining Deadlock and then Blackwatch, I’ve never had a real birthday party. Back with Deadlock I’d just steal a little something for myself, and I spent my last birthday locked up, so…”

“Ah, right” Gabe looked down to the ground below for a moment, then back to Jesse “Do you even have family?”

“I ran away from them when I was young. Real young, too. Can’t remember when or where but Deadlock picked me up early.”

Gabe noted how emotionless Jesse remained through this chat. He talked about it so casually, but he couldn’t help but wonder how bad his past truly was for him to not know such simple things, like blowing out the candles on a cake.

“Do you consider… anyone here, family?” Gabe winced a little as he said this, almost immediately regretting the question.

“You’ve been nicer to me than any of the Deadlock Gang ever did, so I gotta say you’re the closest I have at this point. Probably.” Jesse seemed to be trying very hard to be very loose with his words, so as to not make anything certain should he regret it. Gabe saw through it, though, as he always did.

He placed his arm around Jesse, comforting him.

“I’m glad you’re here, Jesse. We all are.”

Gabe got up to leave, and walked back into the building, leaving Jesse by himself.

Jesse felt tears well up in his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> title is by ao3 user robiland, who is kinda the reason i started writing overwatch stuff, so you're welcome


End file.
